(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a post-delivery support system for private branch exchanges designed for the use of small-scale custom as telephone switchboards, and more particularly, to a post-delivery support system which permits a customer support section to support the private branch exchanges which have been delivered.
(2) Description of the Related Art
A field support department of a factory usually keeps at hand the information about the names and addresses of customers to whom private branch exchanges (PBX) for the use of small-scale trade have been delivered, the configuration of hardware and software of the private branch exchanges at the time of shipment, and like information, considering that a fault occurred in the hardware or software of a certain private branch exchange can occur in other private branch exchanges of the same configuration which have been already delivered. The private branch exchange referred to herein is a telephone switchboard capable of connecting approximately up to 100 extension lines, and it is assumed that the field support department is to manage approximately 100,000 customers to whom private branch exchanges have been delivered.
Generally, private branch exchanges shipped from a factory 101 are kept in a warehouse 102, and then sold to customers 104 by dealers 103, as shown in FIG. 1.
The information necessary for the field support department of the factory 101 includes the names and addresses of customers to whom private branch exchanges have been delivered, identification numbers identifying the individual private branch exchanges, identification numbers identifying the software installed in the private branch exchanges, identification numbers identifying the component parts constituting the private branch exchanges, etc. Among these, the information already known at the time of shipment from the factory 101 includes the identification numbers of private branch exchanges and the identification numbers of the software and component parts, and the names and addresses of customers to whom private branch exchanges are to be delivered are usually not known.
Conventionally, to obtain information about the names and addresses of customers to whom private branch exchanges are delivered, the following measures are taken: At the factory 101, each private branch exchange is packed together with a reply postcard 105 called customer card, on which the identification number of the private branch exchange is printed, so that the customer who received the private branch exchange may write the name and address on the postcard and return it to the factory 101.
Usually, however, the recovery rate of such reply postcards 105 is 30% or less, making it difficult to provide adequate post-delivery support to the delivered private branch exchanges.